Man takes hundreds of newspapers in effort to quiet news of criminal charges

Wednesday

Sep 23, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 23, 2009 at 11:16 PM

Police shortly after 9 a.m. detained a van driven by Roland Hill, a Taunton man facing aggravated rape and child assault charges, parked on the side of the Taunton Daily Gazette’s building. Inside the van were piles of Tuesday’s edition — the front page of which featured an account of police having arrested Hill and his wife, Mary, on a number of abuse charges involving children.

Charles Winokoor

Police shortly after 9 a.m. detained a van driven by Roland Hill, a Taunton man facing aggravated rape and child assault charges, parked on the side of the Taunton Daily Gazette’s building.

Inside the van were piles of Tuesday’s edition — the front page of which featured an account of police having arrested Hill and his wife, Mary, on a number of abuse charges involving children.

Four patrol cars were parked around Hill’s van. A police officer told a Gazette employee that Hill, 46, was able to produce at least $21 worth of receipts for papers purchased.
After a half-hour discussion, police allowed Hill to drive away.

That incident followed a call police received at 8:46 a.m. from a resident of Eldridge Street — the street on which the Hills reside — stating that a man in a tan van was stealing all the Taunton Daily Gazettes out of newspaper boxes on the street.

The caller also said she witnessed him filching papers from the nearby Reed & Barton complex.

And just after 9 a.m., the Gazette reported to police numerous complaints from various local businesses that someone had stolen all of their papers that morning — including bundles left outside of businesses that had not yet opened for the day.

The estimate of papers taken was between 300 and 400, police said.

The incident did not result in charges against Hill, police said Tuesday night.